“SCORPIUS!” I’d already annoyed some Slytherins into letting me into their Common Room right after classes ended, and I was now banging on the door of Scorpius’s dormitory, “SCOOORRRRPPPPIIIIUUUUSSSS!”

“Who the hell is—“ the door opens, but instead of a blonde boy there stands a Wonderboy, “Oh, Chase. Err, hi?”

I stand there stupidly with my mouth open for about a minute; this is the first time we’ve seen each other since he almost kissed me.

“Is Scorpius in there?”

“He’s sleeping,” from the look of things, Danny had been sleeping too. His hair was messy, his face just the tiniest bit unshaven, and his voice had that rough, tired tug on it; he must’ve skipped classes today.

I shift uncomfortably, “Okay, well can you just send word to me when he wakes?”

Wonderboy starts to nod, but then looks me in the eye for a second, “If you wanted, you could just stay with me until he comes around.”

For some reason, I feel like it’s not Scorpius he’s talking about just now, but I find a small grin creep onto my face, “Sure. Why not?”

I see my same grin mirrored on his lips, and he takes a step back so I can walk in.

The first thing I notice is Scorpius’s perfectly made bed, and I look at Danny questioningly.

“He’s sleeping in the bath tub. Can’t stand to have an unmade bed unless it’s necessary.”

I nod; it’s tough for me to say anything with the way he’s looking at me.

He sits down on his bed, and I sit down next to him.

“What do you want to talk about?” he’s about a foot away from me, but I can feel his body heat.

I feel myself leaning closer to him and I really can’t believe what I’m about to say, “While we’re waiting… why don’t we finish what we started?”

Our faces are inches apart, but it’s him that closes the gap.

His mouth is warm, and it makes my face feel hot. At first his lips are timid, but about thirty seconds into the kiss they surpass mine in speed. I don’t really have time to think, but after a while I notice his hands beginning to travel; slowly up my hips, but when they reach my ribs I push them away, continuing the kiss. He tries again, and again I push away. He must realize this is a lost cause because now he’s repositioning me so that I’m lying down and he’s over me, our bodies pressed together. Now that we’re in a more comfortable position, his hands start to try for a third time, and once more I don’t let it happen. He pulls away from the kiss and gives me a look I don’t understand, and he’s just about to say something—

“Woah, sorry, didn’t realize I was interrupting something…”

I turn to see a sleepy looking Scorpius in the bathroom doorway, and my foggy brain is instantly snapped back to sharpness.

I sit up quickly, forgetting about Danny who in turn falls off the bed.

Wonderboy’s eyes are big as he pops off the ground, “Scorpius! Err, Chase wanted to talk to you!” he points at me, and I’m still sitting on the bed looking like a confused puppy or something.

“Really? Because it doesn’t really look like she does.”

“No, Scorpius!” I spring up onto my feet, “I do need to talk to you! I just got, err, distracted,” I glance shyly at Danny, whose goofy grin is a mile wide.

I grab Scorp and run out of the room, turning back just in time to smile at Danny before closing the door. He just happens to be checking out my backside at the time.

“Why are you so red?” Scorpius asks once we’re in the dungeons outside their common room.

“FUCKIN’ BLUSHIES!”

“Woah! Hey! Sorry! Didn’t realize I would offend you or something.”

I grunt, “It’s okay, sorry.”

“So what did you want to talk to me about?”

“C’mon. We can’t talk about it so close to your common room.”

“Okay? So… You and Danny?”

“What about me and Danny?” my face is probably about the shade of a lobster right now, so I keep my head down as we walk out of the dungeons.

“Do you like him?”

I look up at Scorpius’s kind face, “Does he like me?”

“I think so,” he nods, then bites his lip, “he doesn’t really show interest in girls like he has for you. Not usually, I mean. It’s sudden, though, I don’t think he ever really paid attention to you like he’s started to just recently. But now he definitely has—I see him look for you when we walk into a room at the same time I look for Rose. He gets excited whenever we’re going somewhere and we know we’re going to see you guys there.”

“Oh.”

“Wait a second. Why aren’t you smiling?”

I shrug.

“Oh.”

Once again I look up at Scorpius, and he’s looking back down at me with eyes full of understanding.

He knew I was thinking about Louis.

“Scorpius, you’re the brother I never had.”

He smiles, he seems to like the sound of that.

“Where are we going anyways?”

“Here,” I stop him, stare at the wall for a second, and watch as a door appears.

“Jiminy Christmas! How do you know where the Room of Requirement is? I thought the staff was supposed to keep it a secret!”

“Staff? As in, my father? The man that raised me?”

“Ah. I understand.”

I push him inside, and look around to see a cozy square room, with lots of cushions and a nice fire to sit down next to and talk. Perfect.

“So, what did you want to talk about, Little Miss Longbottom?”

“Posey.”

He looks puzzled, “What about Posey?”

I sit down on the floor of pillows, and he does the same, “She wants to steal you from Rose. She, like most people here, has no idea about the baby and thinks that you guys are just going through a rough patch. The way she was talking, and knowing how terrible she is, I think that she’s going to try and slip you a love potion and then once you’re under her spell try and make woopie with you—“

“But that’s impossible, love potions legally can’t make you want to sleep with someone. I doubt Posey would risk going to Azkaban just so that she could play on my joystick.”

“Nice one. But anyways, don’t you see? She figures that once you’re in ‘love’ with her you’ll WANT to dip your pen in her ink. Get it?”

“Oh! I understand. Don’t worry, that won’t work.”

Scorp’s confidence confuses me, “You do realize that you’ll be under the influence of a potion? You won’t even remember Rose exists. How do you know you won’t give in? You ARE of the male species, after all.”

“First, let me say that I will never, ever forget about Rose, not even for a second,” his voice is serious, but calms down, “And I know that Posey won’t get my engine running because, well, she doesn’t know how.”

I give him a “what the hell is that supposed to mean?” look.

“Err, well, what I’m trying to say is, only Rose knows the, ahem, specific way to get me, y’know, going.”

“Oh! Like what? Does she read history books to you or something?”

Scorpius blushes and looks at the ground, but shakes his head no.

“Does she recite facts on the anatomy of a pine tree?”

“No.”

“Well what does she do?”

“Why do you want to know?”

“Because I’m a nosey person and if you don’t tell me I’ll just be terribly curious forever. It’s a disease.”

“Fine, fine,” he sighs, “But you have to swear you won’t tell anyone… and don’t laugh! This is embarrassing stuff.”

I put both my hands up to show that my fingers aren’t crossed, “I promise.”

“Okay, okay. When Rose is feeling, y’know, playful, she… she… um, well, she tickles me. She says she ‘likes the sound of my giggling’,” his face is now tomato red, and he refuses to take his eyes off the ground.

At this time, I just have to stare at the wall to keep my expression straight. I’m not sure if I want to laugh more because of the absurdity of what he’s said or purely the fact that he and Rose are so extremely perfect for each other.

“You’re trying not to laugh, aren’t you?”

I take in a deep breath and shake my head no, but it’s so forced I might as well just be saying yes.

“Go ahead, you can laugh, I don’t care.”

For a little more than a minute I’m rolling on the floor with gut-busting laughter, unable to control myself. Once I finally catch my breath, I look at Scorpius seriously, and then start laughing again. This time takes two minutes, but once I’m done I’m done.

“Alright, so what are we going to do about Posey?”

He takes a deep breath and recovers from his embarrassment, “The popular thing to do the last couple of years when secretly making potions is to go to the lavatory nearest your common room. Posey’s the type to follow fads, maybe you can get in there and switch her hair or whatever for someone else’s. Someone that won’t try to take advantage of me when I’m under the spell…”

“I could do it. I have absolutely no romantic feelings towards you whatsoever, especially after the bit of information you’ve just shared with me.”

“What about Danny?”

“What do you mean?” I furrowed my eyebrows, how did Wonderboy fit into the equation?

He gives me an ‘are you serious?’ look, “You guys were just kissing! I don’t think he would appreciate his best friend suddenly acting like he was in love with you.”

“He doesn’t own me. And it’s not like we’re even dating, I mean if he asked me out there might be a problem, but he didn’t.”

He gives me that look again; that understanding look that meant he knew I was thinking about Louis. And again, he doesn’t bring it up.

“Chase?”

“Yeah?”

“You should probably go check the lavatory now, Posey’s impatient and dinner will be soon. Perfect opportunity to slip something in my drink.”

I nod and run out.

I was right, Posey was making a love potion. I watched as she put the ingredients together from under James’s cloak—I still hadn’t given it back yet.

Now she was walking away from the potion to go to the restroom, leaving me the perfect opportunity. I identified a brunette hair carefully placed on a little dish next to the potion, plucked out my own and switched the two. Once Posey was done doing her business she finished the potion, including adding my hair, and put the pinkish clear substance in a little vial. She walked out and started out towards the Great Hall, not knowing that I was silently trailing behind her.

Hot damn did she look like a hussy; does that girl know that there is such thing as heels below five inches tall? Or skirts above five inches long, for that matter?

I take off the cloak after getting into the crowded Great Hall and luckily nobody notices me. I look around for Scorpius and see him, and I start to walk towards him but stop short when I realize who he’s with. Him, Danny, James and Louis are all standing in a little group in the corner of the room talking quietly. Well, this would be fun.

“Hey guys!” I intrude on their little conversation in the most awkward way possible. The way they were standing Scorpius and James were next to the wall, so I wound up smack between Louis and Danny. Just my luck.

“Hullo Chasey Whasey—“

“How’s it goin’ Baby Buns—“

They both greet me in their usual ways, but at the same time so that right after it happens they both get silent and start looking back and forth between each other and me. I cough awkwardly.

“You guys can’t say I wasn’t reluctant about both of those nicknames…” I mumble.

James starts shaking his head, “Way to go, Chase.”

Louis and Danny both start to defend me, again at the same time.

“Err, you go,” Louis nods at Danny.

Danny shakes his head, “No, you first, I insist.”

“I was just going to say that Chase isn’t to blame for our, err, situation. I mean, we’re all mature here, we all know what happened between Chase and me and what almost happened between her and Danny. Let’s not act like children.”

Wonderboy agrees, “Let’s just move on to something new, there’s no point in dwelling.”

“Fuck this.”

Everyone looks at me, slightly surprised but kind of not (it is me we’re talking about after all), but I continue talking, “Louis, don’t talk about me like I’m not here. And Danny, don’t just stand there letting Louis think that you and I didn’t snog in your bedroom today when you, me, and Scorpius were all there for that happening. And you know what, if I weren’t obliged to be here by one of you for a secret mission, I would be stomping away right now!”

Before any of the four guys can say anything in reply to my little outburst, Posey is squeezing in between me and Louis, pushing me into Danny. She’s holding two separate glasses of pumpkin juice, and I see Scorpius twitch in anticipation for being drugged.

Scorp starts to decline, but Louis speaks up, “I’m actually really thirsty,” he holds out his hand for a glass, and Posey, thinking she’s smooth, starts to hand him the other one. But in the tight space of the corner, her elbow somehow got bumped, and the two drinks went up into the air.

By some crazy miracle, she managed to dive and catch the drinks, though I’m pretty sure she happened to punch James in the face in the process. Also, after the crazy mix up, it was almost impossible to tell which cup was which.

“Nice catch,” Louis smiles, he has a tough time thinking badly of anyone, even Posey, “Can I have that drink now? I haven’t had one since Quidditch practice and I’m parched.”

“Errr…” Posey looks anxiously back and forth between each goblet, but finally just hands Louis a random one quickly after realizing that he was looking at her funny. Posey Parkinson-Johnson could not have people thinking she was weird.

Louis gulps it down. She quickly hands the other one to Scorpius, stares at him until he gulps it too, and then she just walks away without a word.

“Oh! I’m no longer obliged! I can stomp away now!” I smile and stomp away. Behind me, James has a bloody nose, either Scorpius or Louis has just consumed something that will make them fall in love with me, and Danny just looks confused.

I see Rose picking through her food, occasionally looking at it like she’s starving and then quickly switching to looks of disgust as she goes through cravings and distastes.

I’m just about to go sit with her when I feel a hand on my shoulder. I turn and see Louis. Before he says anything, I take a second to really look at him. As always, he’s well put together; his dark, ocean-blue eyes look well-rested, his sandy blonde hair is clean and styled, and his soft, pink lips are… well, let’s not get too far into things.

“I want to talk to you about something,” He bites his lip.

I nod and walk with him outside the Great Hall.

“So, what is it?” I ask, hoping to Merlin that Louis didn’t get the love potion.

“…You and Danny kissed?”

“I know you said he’s got some weird secret but I really don’t think it’s any of your—“

“I don’t really care about that right now, because all I can think about is that you were kissing someone else. And I know now that I don’t want you kissing anyone else,” he’s moving closer to me now, “I only want you to kiss me.”

He’s so close that he could easily kiss me now, but I know he won’t do that without knowing that I want it first.

This is so unreal that it takes a second for it to fit in my brain that he’d gotten the love potion. I turn my head away; I don’t want it to happen this way.

Louis looks hurt, but nods, “I get it. I had my chance and I wasted it. But I just wanted you to know,” he gently pushes a strand of my hair behind my ear, “That I’m not going to stop trying. It’s my turn to chase you now.”

This confuses me, but he walks away before I can stutter a word out. That’s not exactly how I expected someone under the influence of a love potion to act.

“CHASE LONGBOTTOM,” Scorpius bursts through the doors of the Great Hall, “I LOVE YOU!”